We left (me, my wife and two daughters) Legian at 8am bound
for the fast boat for the Gili Islands at Padangbai. The shuttle bus was old
and uncomfortable. On arrival at padangbai, the rear luggage door wouldn’t
open. It took a lot of prying and time to get it opened.

The boat trip was calm and fast. The boat landed on the
beach at Gili Trawangan. We had booked Indigenous Bungalows for our stay. There
was supposed to be someone there to show us the way. It took ½ for them to turn
up. We got two cimodos (horse/carts) to the hotel.

The carts were a novelty but the suspension was very poor so
overall it wasn’t much fun after a few minutes bouncing around.

The hotel was located at the north of the island and inland.
It was suppose to be a short walk but the road/track was 10cm deep in dust and
a 20 minute walk to the nearest restaurant. The hotel was nice with big rooms
but it just wasn’t suitable for this trip. One of my daughters was unwell and
the walk distance to the beach/restaurants was not possible for her.

With the coming of the new day, I went looking for a new
place to stay. We decided to go more upmarket and have some luxury on this
family leg of the trip.

After breakfast, we moved to the new hotel, Villa Vu. It was
across the road from the beach and near restaurants and other facilities. The
hotel had a great pool, restaurant and its own area on the beach. The rooms
were huge and very comfortable. The bathrooms were massive as well. Everyone
was happy!

We spent the rest of our time in Gili Trawangan sitting,
swimming and snorkelling around the pool or on the beach. The snorkelling off
the beach was good but boats were a problem. That is, not getting run over by
them. The swimming was best at high tide.

I had a couple of bike rides that were hard but fun. I
cycled around the island and on another ride I rode to the south to watch the
sunset. The riding was fun but finding a good bike was difficult. Most were
poorly maintained but they were willing to adjust it to my liking.

On another day, I had a snorkelling trip around the three
islands with a nice friendly, crowd of people from a variety of places around
the world. The coral was good with a number of fish. The currents were strong at
some locations.

While I did my cycling and snorkelling the girls baked.

Food on Gili Trawangan was usually good but this time the
‘better’ restaurants were the worse and the ‘not so good looking’ restaurants
were the best. The latter was better in terms of food and service.

I wasn’t long before our time in Gili T came to an end. The
journey back to Legian was eventful with rough seas, poor service and a shuttle
bus that dumped everyone at bemo corner. I definitely do not recommend the
Ekajaya. Overall the trip to Gili Trawangan was hot, warm and fun and most of
all everyone was happy.